An Affordable
Two-War Strategy

By

Zalmay Khalilzad and

David Ochmanek

Updated March 13, 1997 12:01 a.m. ET

"Two wars or not?" is the most basic question confronting William Cohen, our new secretary of defense. In its current review of the U.S. defense posture, the Pentagon is considering abandoning the primary standard that has been used to size and shape U.S. armed forces since the end of the Cold War: the capability to win two major regional wars--each on the scale of the Gulf War--nearly simultaneously.

The reason for considering a less ambitious posture is money. The $245 billion that America spends annually on...